Carney's plan to boost Canada's foreign service needs more details: union
A union official representing foreign service officers and a senator who once served Canada overseas say they're optimistic about Carney's plans but they want to see the details.
The Liberal election platform said a Carney government would send 'more Canadian diplomats and officials abroad' to expand trade and 'restore Canadian leadership.'
It also said the Liberals would issue a 'new, full foreign policy' and launch a complementary national security review.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office said no additional details were available.
Carney is expected to name his new cabinet later this month.
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9:37
Diplomatic reality in a politically explosive world
Pamela Isfeld, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, said the union was happy to see the Liberal platform commit to enhancing diplomacy but now wants to know 'how that is actually going to translate into action.'
A proper foreign policy review and fresh plan are 'long overdue,' said Isfeld, whose organization represents more than 2,000 active and retired members of Canada' foreign service.
There is no better time to undertake the project, now that Canada is considering its place in the world in the face of tensions with the U.S., she added.
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Isfeld said many key issues in the recent election — including defence policy and economic and national sovereignty — are linked to diplomacy and the foreign service.
The review should take into account previous studies and involve consultation with public interest groups, Indigenous groups, provinces and municipalities, she said.
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The last major federal review of the foreign service was released in 2005 under then-prime minister Paul Martin.
The government has mapped out strategies in recent years on Africa, the Indo-Pacific and the future of diplomacy.
As part of the diplomacy strategy, published in 2023, the government promised to expand Canada's diplomatic footprint abroad.
2:18
Canadian government pushed to revitalize diplomat corps in U.S.
Sen. Peter Boehm, a former foreign service officer, said that for any future review to be effective, it must consult with Canadians because 'there really wasn't that much in the platform.'
Boehm was chair of the Senate committee on foreign affairs and international trade in 2023 when it recommended that Global Affairs Canada examine its senior management structure to see how it could reduce the number of senior officials and reallocate resources.
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Carney has emphasized the need for Canada to diversify its trading partners in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's global trade war.
Boehm said that might mean sending more trade commissioners to countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Isfeld said sending more diplomats abroad likely would require more resources — not just reallocation of current employees. She said staffing is essentially 'bare bones' in many missions, with just one representative in some locations.
'There shouldn't be a section or a team in any embassy where there isn't at least a backup,' she said.
Isfeld said ensuring there are at least two staffers in every mission probably would involve increasing the number of foreign service staff by at least 50 to 60 per cent.
1:54
Canada details new 'Arctic Foreign Policy' in effort to bolster northern presence, security
The government also should consider hiring more Canada-based employees, depending on its priorities, as some divisions at Global Affairs Canada are 'really understaffed,' she added.
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Isfeld said some foreign service officers working in the United States have concerns about political issues in the country and a lack of access to services.
'I think people are feeling nervous and that's going to translate when they talk to the people who are interested in replacing them,' she said. 'It's a shame because this is where we're really going to need really good people.'
Boehm said Canada faces a 'real inflection point in global relations' because the 'old order' is being challenged by the United States.
He said he is looking to the coming throne speech for details about Carney's plans for Canada's presence abroad.
'This will be the opportunity for the government, for the prime minister, to set up that ambitious agenda that he was talking about during the campaign,' Boehm said.
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It features a Wall of Heroes featuring framed photos of Ryan Reynolds, Leonard Cohen, Shania Twain, Margaret Atwood, Alex Trebek and more; and a map of the key battles of the War of 1812. Some of van Zuylen-Wood's finds were probably already known to many Americans, like Scarborough native Mike Myers' pro-Canadian appearances on Saturday Night Live . Others may have been news to New York-based readers of the piece, like the time that Jagmeet Singh 'was spotted attending a Kendrick Lamar concert' and 'groveled for forgiveness' from Lamar's Canadian nemesis Drake, claiming he had been there only to see the other headliner, SZA. Van Zuylen-Wood's article unpacks the shaky but incontrovertible Canadian patriotism even among some separatist-minded Quebecers, the well-timed speech to Parliament by Charles III, King of Canada, and the recent political gains made by the Liberal Party of Canada against the background of Trump's talk of tariffs and annexation. 'Part of the purpose of this story … was to bring news back,' he said, 'and to tell Americans that this place that you thought you understood and that you thought was this placid, easygoing place is not so placid and easygoing any more.' But in terms of, as he put it, 'rectifying that imbalance, reactions were what be deemed mixed. 'There was a reaction of raised-eyebrow surprise,' he said. 'The first reaction is, 'Oh my God I had no idea of the extent of it.' And I think a curiosity and an eagerness to learn more.' But beyond a sort of sombre head-shaking, and particularly from more right-leaning readers, there wasn't much sympathy. 'Certainly on social media I saw a lot of taunting reactions to my piece,' he said. 'Who cares? We don't need them. We're the big bad elephant in the room. That sort of thing. But it's not deeply felt, even among Trump supporters. No one is listing it as their top issue.' He reached out to political wonks and foreign policy types, 'and frankly they're thinking more about arctic security and critical minerals in Greenland than they are those issues in Canada. It was actually hard to find people who were thinking extremely seriously about this. It's not in the portfolio really deeply of anyone except Donald Trump it looks like.' And where does it go from here? 'I think it kind of depends a lot on Canadian sentiment,' van Zuylen-Wood said. 'My prediction, not that you should trust my predictions, is that it will reverse itself on the American side, in that I don't think there's a strategic game here that would go beyond Trump. Even a highly protectionist JD Vance administration I don't think would include anything about the annexation threat, and I don't think it would be quite as erratic and bullying.' That said, he spoke to some Canadians who claimed they were done with America. 'I talked to people who said, 'We don't care who the next president is. This relationship is over. We don't want to go. We don't feel welcome.' And I think a lot of people maybe mean it. For some people it'll thaw, especially if the next president is a Democrat. But my sense is it kind of depends on how Canadians feel.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
